Have you seen the twinkling sky in Evans Way Park? I passed near sunset and was mesmerized by what appeared to be a milky-way of tiny dancing stars– I’ve not seen anything quite like this!

It has been two years since my team and I installed the first Evans Way Park installation — ENfold — to commemorate the Fenway as Boston’s first designated cultural district. ENfold was one of the first to pave the way for others and being the first has its distinction but is not always fun. City of Boston approval of the piece required a grueling 6-month review process!

What we did not know at the time, was that our hard work would not only inspire — but make it much easier to build temporary installations in an annual tradition for an event, the Fenway Alliance’s Opening Our Doors (OOD), that continues to grow and flourish each year!

The Fenway OOD installation build has become a highly desirable opportunity in the architecture community and now many more young architects have had an opportunity to participate! Last year a design team at Goody Clancy was selected to produce a ground cover comprised of simple folded armatures titled ‘Interlace’. This year, due to an increased demand for participation, the Fenway Alliance tightened the selection process by hosting a juried internal competition to select work. The process — which brought forth some spectacular ideas, including the winning installation design ‘Sparkle + Chime’ by Jean Kim of Shepley Bullfinch. (See video below of Kim and his team at Shepley fabricating and installing the piece)

Kim’s concept is simple– he has affixed a lightweight web of stainless steel cable and fishing line between trees and from the network the team suspended hundreds of reflective disks—hardware parts from old Shepley computers to make the chimes. Kim’s inspiration for the piece came from a contraption his grandmother made in her garden to keep pesky birds from eating her produce.

Kim’s concept and the support he received from his colleagues at Shepley — is truly outstanding. When standing beneath this beautiful little universe you understand the power of successful teamwork.

I commend Kelly Brilliant Director of the Fenway Alliance and Jean Kim and his design team at Shepley Bulfinch for making this happen!

The Fenway Alliance includes all these amazing installations in its Public By Design initiative. Kelly applauds ENfold Evans Way 2011 which garnered significant mainstream and architect-specific media recognition and a competitive honor from the BSA. She says she marvels at what each dedicated creative has brought to transform an underutilized yet beautiful park into a beautiful and vibrant place of connection, conversation, smiles, awards, and every so often, sparkles and awe.

Lets face it, there is a new exciting tradition happening in Boston, one we have all been waiting for! Spread the word — and don’t miss the opportunity to get in on it next year!

Experience Sparkle + Chime with a wash of metallic swells, crashes and rhythms of the ‘Jungle of Sound’ cymbal performance from 2-3 pm tomorrow, Columbus Day.

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SHIFTboston is an public design initiative that was established with the help of the Boston Society of Architects in 2008 to explore the next generation of design. Through international competitions and public forums, we are investigating and exploring interdisciplinary design in the digital age.

We are a resource for designers, scientists, manufacturers, engineers, and visionaries — worldwide – wishing to share the latest cross-disciplinary design thinking in urban design, architecture, landscape design and engineering.